Teddy Bear Photo Update

 

Just been looking through some of my patterns and updating the photos. Somehow I had not added these photos to my Teddy Bear pattern, as I think they were taken when it was a work-in-progress. They were just snaps, but now looking back I think they are nicer because of the lighting than the photos where the finished bears went off to the park and had a picnic (much to my daughter's embarrassment).

The pattern is available in all the usual places, (ravelry, Etsy, and LoveKnitting) and although might be a bit more complicated than some bear patterns, because you need to use toymakers joints, you will finish with a classic vintage style bear. He has all the features you would expect: a slight hump at the back, a muzzle, paw pads, a round tummy and a slightly serious expression.

He is knitted flat, so there is some sewing up, but this means he has curves in all the right places. The finished bear is 17 inches or 43cm tall. You will need 120g of the main shade and 20g of the paw pad shade.

I am currently working on an animal-themed garment, which I am writing in larger than just baby sizes. As usual it is taking me much longer than I had expected. Actually I like this garment so much I may have to make an adult-sized one for myself!

Moths - The Good and the Bad

Moths in a woollen mill are a very bad thing. I have been told that they can very quickly reduce fleece or wool to a pile of dust, and so the wool stocks are kept sealed in what are essentially like large plastic sandwich bags, and I think every so often the whole building is fumigated. 

But moths at home are not much better, and I recently found that the one bear I had kept from my Teddy Bear pattern had been nibbled by moths. Poor Ted had to spend a while in my freezer, as this is meant to kill the moths, and any grubs or eggs too. (I probably should have warned my daughter that I had put him there!) I decided that darning was the best solution, and as my darning skills are not great, it was best to just going with making the darns very obvious. On his bottom he has two tradional woven darns, and the arms are my attempt at swiss darning. Even his little scarf had a hole. 

The house has now been scattered with cedar balls, as I don't really like the smell of traditional moth balls, and I have lavender hanging in the airing cupboard. But I don't want to put off all the moths.

Just to show that moths are not all bad, here are a few pictures of moths I have taken in my house in the last year. I think, but am not totally sure, that these bigger moths are not the main culprits for eating wool, so all of them were carefully put out doors. The first one is an elephant hawk moth, next a drinker, the yellow one a brimstone, the one on the green leaf might be a buff ermine, I think the last one is another type of ermine moth. Happy to be corrected on any of this! 

 

Red Ted

I wrote a post, which I now see was back in November called My Work Basket. How can the months have slipped by so quickly. A few people did spot that I was making a teddy bear, and was using my own pattern. This teddy is jointed, which might put a few people off, but the joints are quite easy to buy on-line (and probably in shops), and I think give a more authentic bear that hopefully will be fun to play with.

Teddy has been finished for a while, but I was waiting to see if my niece had a boy or girl before I made the scarf. I used to a combination of bright red and sock wool for the scarf to give a slightly random stripe. So this teddy is now on his way to Ireland, to meet my new great nephew.

The pattern is called Teddy Bear on ravelry. This teddy also has a small hump, which I now realise I haven't photographed. (Debating whether to unwrap him for another photo-shoot.) Have you ever found yourself saying (in your head) "work it teddy", while getting a woolly bear to pose in the back garden?

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for February. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

My Work Basket

I just thought you might like to see the state of my work basket. I have been busy working on this teddy bear, and am just waiting for the toy joints to arrive and then I can put him together. I can't find anywhere locally to buy them, and mail order does seem the best option.

It has been fun returning to my own pattern. It always astonishes me that I wrote it. But then I remember the weeks of work writing and knitting, and altering and rewriting, and testing. 

I love this wool that I have used. You may have noticed it before on my blog, mainly for baby shoes. It was a jumper once, and just seems to go on and on. I may have enough left for another bear, or perhaps a different project. The colour is bit unusual for a bear, but I just like all the different shades in it.

Just a reminder that there is still a little bit of time to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for November. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month

Little Teddy Bear

After knitting my big teddy pattern, I had in mind that it might be fun to knit some much smaller teddy bears, using the same techniques. So while all the ideas were still in my head, it seemed like a good idea to crack on with a small teddy pattern. 

These teddy bears are a much quicker knit, only taking 30g of double knit wool. The finished bears are 22cm or 8.5 inches tall when standing. I have used the same methods - knitting all pieces flat, with some short rows to get curves. I have also used toy makers joints (which are easily available), but if you didn't want to do this you could just sew on the head and limbs.
 

Teddy Family Portrait

I turned away and when I looked back the teddies were doing this ....

... and then this

and finally this ...

What are they like? 

With the joints your teddy can have all sorts of fun. I did consider making them little sweat bands, or even P.E. or ballet outfits.  

Teddy bears out by the strawberry patch.

The pattern is available in all the usual places, ravelry, Etsy, and Loveknitting. I have put a new link to my Loveknitting Shop in the sidebar.

Goodbye Bears

So before the teddy bears went off to their new owners I decided that they needed scarves. And even the original large-armed bear (who is staying with me) got a scarf, and has not been left out of the photos this time.

 

And as you can see this teddy has already found someone to have a lot of fun with.

"If You Go Down to the Woods Today ..."

I have at last completed my knitting pattern for a traditional teddy bear, and it is for sale on Etsy, ravelry and Loveknitting. These are two new bears (not the original one), and if you look carefully I have made the slight amendments that I talked about. The muzzle is more pronounced and arms a bit thinner. 

I felt a bit mean leaving the original bear at home when we went off for our photoshoot picnic. I have a plan to give these two away as gifts, but will probably keep the first bear as I have grown rather fond of him despite the imperfections.

I had to beg my daughter to come to the park with me this morning to help photograph the bears. Somehow a middle-aged women on her own photographing bears having a picnic looks a bit bonkers. 

These bears are not a difficult knit. All the sections are knitted flat, so there are seams to sew. I know some knitters hate sewing up, but I wanted to get curves in certain places, and short rows is my favourite method for this. He also has a small hump at the back, and curved bottom. The head (apart from the ears) is knitted in one piece, and the lines you can see from the eyes going up, are not seams but a line of increase stitches. 

Teddy can be knitted in any doubleknit wool, and is constructed with toymakers joints. The best place I found to buy the joints in the UK was online at http://www.sewandso.co.uk, mainly because the postage was very reasonable. Joints and eyes are not expensive or heavy, so it is bit annoying to be paying more for postage than for the joints. These eyes are child safe, and when I put them on one of the bears a bit too high, I had to use cutting pliers to remove them, so I think your average baby would find it very hard to get them off. But if you were making the bear for a very young child or baby and were worried you could embroider the eyes.

Writing this pattern has been a huge learning curve for me. Though it has put in my mind some other toy animals that I think would be fun to knit. I might also make a smaller version of teddy using the same techniques, that would be a much quicker knit.  

Teddy in Progress

Teddy is still a work in progress, and writing this pattern is taking up so much time, that I have nothing else to write about. (But he has progressed a lot from Last Week.) As you can see Teddy No 1 is complete. My favourite bits of him are his head and ears, and his feet with their paw pads.  I love his little solemn face (I first of all made him with a big grin, but this was a bit spooky and had to be unpicked for this more serious fellow). The other thing that you really can't see from my photos, is that he has a slight hump, and a curved bottom.

But there are a few things not quite right, so as you can see Teddy No 2 is well on the way. Teddy 1's arms look a bit like he has been working out at the gym. So the next version is going to have thinner arms, a slightly more pronounced muzzle, and hopefully be a bit less hippy. Although I found it quite easy to buy toymaker joints on-line, these are really hard to put together. I haven't been able to do this yet (so my husband is my bear assembler), so you need to have someone with a bit of muscle to help. In fact Teddy No 1 looks like just the sort of chap you need.

WIP - No Teddy Bears Were Harmed in the Making of This Project ...

WARNING - Some of you may find these photos distressing. 

Poor old teddy, but he has been so helpful, as head is just the right shape. I have been working really hard on this new teddy bear pattern. I want him to be a perfect traditional old-fashioned bear.

I am probably not even half way there yet, as I have done the arms, and I am working out the shaping for the head panels using Eric the Bear as my assistant. On the final pattern his head will, I hope, be knitted in one piece. This is not the way I usually work, but the shape I need is fairly precise and unusual. Nothing is going to be knitted in the round, because I find working flat means I can use short rows to get extra curves and bulges where I need them. A teddy should have a bit of a round tum.

Teddy may take a few more weeks, and then there will be test knitting, so probably even longer before I release the pattern. He is going to be jointed, so I also need to check out where I can buy some toymakers joints. 

For me this is a fairly big project. For this first version I am rapidly getting through some wool that I unravelled from a pullover. My mum enjoyed helping me with this at Christmas, and although she can't really see well enough to knit now, she is a pretty good unraveller.

Sock Buddies

I have finished my second ever pair of socks!  (Ok it is 2 years since the last pair, so perhaps I shouldn't be quite so full of myself.) I can see why some people get hooked on sock knitting, as there is something so pleasing about turning the heel.

This was my "Christmas car journey" knitting. I do really find car knitting relaxing, and our journey back from Devon on a very stormy day, did mean I needed something to keep me calm. But car knitting has to be from a pattern, and also something not too fancy, so I can manage in darkness too.

So I thought I would have a go at these children's socks from Knits for Fab Feet and Cosy Toes by Anna Tilman, which I have photographed at the bottom of this page. What is great about the sock patterns in this book is that they come in a range of sizes. These were knitted on four needles. I didn't use the recommended wool, but some Sirdar Snuggly Double Knitting wool, which as you can see turned out great for size, and I really like the slightly unusual colour.
 

The pattern is called Sock Buddies, because of the little bears in the pockets. I didn't  quite follow the bear section of the pattern, but sort of improvised them. These socks are for my daughter (those are her legs!), who did not think she was too old at 13 to have teddies in pockets on her socks. I did suggest she could keep her asthma inhaler in one of the pockets, which didn't go down very well!

There are lots of other lovely patterns in this book, so I think it might be time to knit some socks for myself next.

My Crochet Diary - Two

So I am still working at learning to crochet, and here is my first completed crochet project. Isn't he cute. I saw an appeal on Linda's Crafty corner for knitted/crochet bear puppets for a charity record attempt. Linda has also really helpfully published a Bear Crochet Pattern. What was reassuring was having read through it I thought I could understand the pattern. The only thing I slightly altered was making him a little circle for a muzzle. He also has a little bit of wadding in his head and muzzle. I must find out where to send him to for the record attempt in September.

I am still making a few mistakes, but I am learning as I go. The first major mistake with teddy, is that once again I have put my crochet hook under one strand, not two. (Thank you CreativeJewishMom for explaining this to me.) The book I am working from only illustrates the first row, and doesn't explain that further on you insert the needles under both strands. 

Thank you everyone who gave me tips and advice and encouragement after my last Crochet Diary post. I have found that Youtube videos are really helpful, although the UK/USA difference in stitch names is a bit annoying. The main thing you can really learn from a video is how to hold the thread and hook (another thing I have been getting wrong and doing much more like a knitter).

The other things I am finding hard is how to count how many rows I have done, and how many stitches I have. How many extra chains to make at the end of each row, and how many stitches in to start.  I can see if you get this wrong your work could start shrinking or expanding. So turning at the end of the row is always a bit scary.

My target is to eventually make a granny square blanket, or perhaps even a single granny square would be a good start. But for now I am looking at little crochet projects to learn a few more skills. More advice would be very welcome!

Patchwork Cuddle Ted

Hit play before you scroll down. 

Guarantee this song will make you feel chilled and happy.

This year I have been running a lunchtime knittting club at the school where I work, with a very lovely lady called Joyce. Throughout the year our little group of novice knitters, all aged about 7-10, and so far all girls, have been creating knitted squares. Everyone successfully learned to knit, and we have great plans for next year (possibly to learn how to purl). My other ambition is to get a few boys to come to knitting club.
 

But what to do with our knitted squares? As you can see we did not worry too much about needles sizes, number of stitches, or the tedious matter of tension. Sewing them together I treated them a bit like a jigsaw, and I love the variety in sizes and textures. We only met for 30 minutes each week, and it has taken all year to make the pieces for this little blanket.
 

... And with the addition of a head and some paws, the blanket was transformed into a snuggly teddy, a gift for my class teacher's new baby, which is very imminently expected. Isn't Patchwork Cuddle Ted adorable? It was so nice for the children to have created something this special together.